FIFA announced the 2022 Qatar World Cup schedule on the evening of the 15th Beijing time. The opening game will start on November 21, 2022, and the final is scheduled for the evening of December 18, with a total duration of 28 days.
At 13:00 local time on November 21, 2022, the opening match of the Qatar World Cup will be held at the Gulf Stadium. The 60,000-seat stadium is named after the tents used by local nomads in the bay.
The group stage will kick off at 13:00, 16:00, 19:00 and 22:00 local time. The knockout stage matches will be played at 18:00 and 22:00 local time. The Khalifa International Stadium became the venue for the third- and fourth-place finals on December 17. The final will be held at 18:00 local time the next day at the Lusail Stadium, which can accommodate 80,000 people.
The Qatar World Cup group stage will last 12 days with 4 matches per day. This not only ensures that the team is fully adjusted during the game, but also allows fans plenty of time to watch the game. The unique natural advantages of the venue ensure that the venues can be directly reached by land transportation, allowing the organizers to better optimize the schedule to ensure the best experience for fans, teams and media personnel.
After the international break in March 2022, a drawing ceremony will be held after all teams are released to determine the final match schedule. After the draw, the organizing committee will further discuss the possibility of adjusting the kick-off time of each game, so as to provide a game time that is beneficial to the fans of the home team of each country watching the game at home and the fans watching the game live in Qatar.
Due to the close distance between the stadiums, and thanks to Qatar’s excellent climate during the World Cup, it also provides a lot of convenience for the organizers to adjust the event time. Fans will also have the opportunity to watch multiple group matches live on the same day. For fans planning to travel to Qatar to watch the game live, hotel bookings are expected to start by the end of 2020. Public-facing ticket sales will take place through the FIFA website, with details on schedule, stages, categories and prices to be released in due course.